Whole towns evacuated as Northern California firestorm grows; at least 23 people dead, 285 missing

[DonViejo]

Source: The Los Angeles Times



By Phil Willon, Paige St. John, Louis Sahagun, Chris Megerian and Alene Tchekmedyian

October 12, 2017 5:35 a.m. - Reporting from Santa Rosa, CA

The death toll rose to 23 from the rapidly spreading firestorm in California wine country as officials issued more evacuations Thursday morning across the region.

With winds picking up, it was a tense night and early morning with an army of firefighter worked to keep the flames away from communities. Red-flag fire warnings were in place through Thursday afternoon. All residents of Calistoga and Geyserville were ordered to leave their homes, two of numerous evacuation orders across the North Bay.

Napa city officials issued evacuation advisories for neighborhood s along the eastern edges of the city, warning residents to be prepared to leave. Just before 9 p.m., Santa Rosa police also issued an evacuation advisory for neighborhoods in the city’s eastern end, while other neighborhoods along the north end of the city are under mandatory evacuation orders. “The fire is not an imminent threat, but the conditions may change quickly,” police said.

In Sonoma County alone, 25,000 people have evacuated, county spokesman Scott Alonso said late Wednesday.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-fires-northern-california-20171011-story.html

[byronius]

1. My friend's sister is a judge from Santa Rosa -- her house burned to the ground.

They got out with their dogs and kids and a few photos -- had to drive through flames to make it out.

Staying with friends for the moment -- but this is devastating for them.

[Marthe48]

4. Just horrible

Hope things turn out ok for your sister and her family.

[marlakay]

24. My daughters house burnt too

In Santa Rosa. They woke her up and she only got to grab purse. She was renting with out insurance so lost all.

I just drove down to Sacramento to visit my older mom and comfort my daughter buy her some clothes.

You could see smoke from hwy 5 near the hills.

[dhill926]

2. and if these fires merge.....

holy hell.....

[DK504]

3. A few small ones are popping up to the east.

Where are the tankers of water and retardant and water? Where are the helicopters? Where are the fire crews that are normally called in to fight these?

It seems these fire fighters are left to their own devices and they can't stop this.

The growth of these fires id on the Moron's fat shoulders.

[Downtown Hound]

7. The tankers are here

So are the planes and the choppers. The problem is there is so much smoke that they are having a hard time seeing anything. If they can't see the target, they don't drop. It's as simple as that. There's no point in wasting expensive and valuable payloads on nothing.

The firefighters here are doing a fantastic job. Some of them have been going for days on end with little or no sleep. Now as for Trump, that fool can pretty much go eff himself with a cactus.

[questionseverything]

12. but are the feds there helping?

or is it only local firefighters?

[Downtown Hound]

13. Last I heard there are 8,00 firefighters from all over battling the fire

I don't know what role the feds are playing. But I can tell you that we are far from on our own here. I've seen huge columns of fire trucks go by on the freeway multiple times. And today the sky is clearer than it's been since this whole thing began, and I've seen the aircraft in the sky.

It's happening. Maybe not as fast as we'd all like but it's happening.

[hardluck]

14. Feds Are helping

https://twitter.com/r5_fire_news?lang=en

From the USFS, "Approx 3,800 federal firefighters & incident support specialists are at work on over a dozen state & local wildfires in California."

[questionseverything]

21. ty for info

I had not heard it reported on tv and did not think of twitter

[More_Cowbell]

17. Luckily, there aren't big fires in other states right now

At an update not too long ago, everyone spoke about the support they're getting from other states and the federal government. But the winds are back up, and there is indeed, as someone else said, a chance of some of these fires merging.

[questionseverything]

22. ty for info

hopefully they don't merge

[LeftyMom]

10. The winds and the thickness of the smoke have made fighting the fires from overhead

impossible much of the time.

[deurbano]

5. My husband and daughters say the air quality in San Francisco is horrible.

I am out of the country helping settle my son into his university (which just started this week), and it's so painful and shocking to read about what has been unfolding. Friends have been affected (even evacuated), but not tragically (as far as I know). In a weird coincidence, I was also out of the country during the Oakland fire.

It's not like I miss the horrible air quality, but it somehow feels like I should be there.

[Retrograde]

11. It's a little better today

I'm about 35 miles s of San Francisco, and yesterday it seemed as if the fires were close by: hazy, low visibility, acrid smoke in the air. The smoke smell isn't as strong today, and I can see to the end of the street. But it gives some indication of the size and expanse of the fires that they can be sensed close to 100 miles away.

I hope your friends stay safe, as well as all the rest of the people up north.

[Rollo]

15. I'm near Oakland and the air was very bad yesterday...

It's a little better today, but still smoky.

The word in the local paper this morning is that many of these fires were started by trees and power lines touching and sparking. PG&E was supposed to maintain their lines, cutting back vegetation so fires didn't happen, but apparently whatever they did wasn't enough.

There will probably be more fines etc for PG&E, which roasted a whole neighborhood in San Bruno back in 2012 with a ruptured gas main. But in the end the rate payers will end up paying the cost.

[NBachers]

26. They said on TV today that the air quality is worse than Beijing during their bad days.

I work in an open building all day, and my throat and lungs are scratchy and smoky. My son in Oakland, with a 5½ month old baby, had his smoke alarm go off last night. They've gone over to my sister's in San Francisco, who has an air purifier.

People just to the north of us have worse air and bigger problems.

[Initech]

6. And still not a word from President Moron.

[bdamomma]

19. He is horrible

Only interested in those states who voted for him. Governor Brown does waste your breath on this despicable person. Be safe DU'er

[Not Ruth]

8. Personally I would leave California until next year

Air quality is no joke

[Lokilooney]

9. But but football players are taking a knee during the anthem!

Priorities people.

[Sunlei]

16. what the heck is fueling the fires? is california covered with invasive 'cheatgrass'? or brush?

both are highly flammable if there're no wildlife left to keep the land healthy.

[More_Cowbell]

18. Five years of drought making things dry, and a lot of rain last season making things grow

And mighty winds Sunday night. It was a combination of a lot of issues.

[Sunlei]

20. That States changed a lot in 250 years.

[hardluck]

23. The state always burns

Im from SoCal so it’s a bit different but fires are a fact of life in California. It’s fire season now. Once this ends we have rains and mudslides. ‘Tis always been.

[marlakay]

25. That area has a ton of dry oaks

And dead grass in the hills this time of year. Need rain.

[spiderpig]

27. May I put in a word of support for our animal friends?

I live in a valley in West Contra Costa County. Every year the city brings in goat herds to chow down on the dry brush. They do a much better job than humans with machines, plus the kids (no pun) love them.

We'll never be totally safe from fire hazard, but our little goat friends help reduce the risk.

My heart breaks over the destruction of our beautiful wine country.

But The Moron golfed a 73, so I guess we must put our priorities in order.

[xor]

28. Wow. That seems like an unusually high number of deaths and missing people.

[haele]

29. Not really. Firestorms are like Tsunamis in rural canyon areas.

When a fire can pop up, spread and travel up to 60 miles in a space of a few hours at night, people get caught. Especially if there is only one or two ways out of their location and there's several hundreds or maybe a thousand residents with varying degrees of mobility there.

Haele